Wednesday, October 2, 2013

October is HERE! It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Well some of us think so! I love the fall, almost as much as the summertime, especially because of a little thing called Halloween. Dia de los Muertos is an awesome celebration of death, life, and family. Last year I did an art project with my son's 4th grade class that was a total hit. I found the idea on an awesome blog Modern Art 4 Kids, for Day of the Dead Skulls.

The craft was done on black paper with bright colors pastels. The kids were informed to draw a BIG skull, to fill up the page, then to decorate their skulls with colorful patterns, designs, and funky lines/shapes. They turned out amazing, and the kids had a blast. They were all different, gorgeous, creepy, and funny. Each one as unique as the child who created it.

We did this project along with a lesson about Frida Kahlo, the passionate Mexican artist. The kids were very interested in the Day of Dead Celebration, which takes place on November 1 &2. Basically it is a holiday to celebrate and remember the loved ones who have passed away. This tradition goes back as far as the Aztecs, although today is predominately Mexican holiday. This holiday is celebrated by making little offerings for the deceased and basically having a party for them. Sugar skulls are plastic or paper mache or perhaps real, decorated with flowers, glitter, cloth, ribbons, gold, and silver, and beautiful adornments. These are not meant to be creepy or scary, but in fact to show that loved ones are remembered and not forgotten.It is really a sweet, wonderful tradition, that is something we could all benefit from.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

I'd been looking for years for a cool furniture piece to put in my kitchen, to display my junk but also look super cool. Junk shops, flea markets, church thrift stores, yard sales, and resale shops are the best places to find something old to make new. We are really lucky in Peoria to have tons of great thrift and resale shops. There are about 5 Goodwills in the tri-county area, along with 2 Salvation Army stores and 3 South Side Mission Marts, and tons of other hidden thrift shop gems. I found this awesome piece at a little thrift shop called God's Mission Thrift Store on McClure St, off Knoxville, in Peoria. It is a great little shop packed to the brim with good junk at pretty cheap prices. Like I said, the search for my kitchen hutch thing had been on for years, and I was really looking hard over the summer and into the fall. It was actually a pretty memorable day when we found this piece, because we had been to the doctor to find out the sex of our new baby (girl!!!). We swung by the thrift shop to kill some time and right inside the door was this cute, but battered up vintage hoosier kitchen.

It was a little rough looking, with some terrible tacky stained paper on the insides. It needed some TLC and we were the ones to give it. We snatched up the cabinet and stuffed it into the back of my car. Luckily it separated into 2 pieces so we could sorta stack it in there.

The good things about the Hoosier, it had all the original hardware, which just needed shined up. Also it had a cool glass display window and a sweet cutout shelf too. It had a pull out iron table/work space that was in great shape with only one major scrape on one of the corners. It also had the flour sifter still in the top left cabinet....complete with some dusty old flour!Our first thing to do was sanding. My dad helped me sand the cabinet doors until they were smooth and striped of much of the gunk. I had found a cool decorative paper on Etsy that was a retro 40's reproduction. It had a few different colors in it, and initially I wanted teal, but then, after my mom's suggestion, I decided on yellow. We found a pretty bright golden yellow paint at Menards and set to work painting. The paint was REALLY thin. At first, any little variety in the color or texture of the piece was showing through the paint. We put on coat after coat after coat after coat of paint and then coat after coat after coat after coat. I went home and my dad continued to add coats of paint. Eventually the paint looked bright and smooth like we wanted. Next we had to measure and cut the paper to fit inside the cabinets. I really wanted paper on the backs, sides, and bottom of each cabinet. We had just enough paper to cover each cabinet with just a few scrapes left behind. We used a spray glue to attach the paper to the cabinets...that stuff was STICKY. Gloves were a must!

Here are some random shots of the progress of the Hoosier cabinet. It was about a week long project, with help from both of my parents and with my boys in school during the day. The final finished project was a super awesome kitchen hutch that I can proudly say is redone by yours truly. It was a fun but challenging project and I was lucky to have help from my parents and my dad's giant garage, tools, and
his painting expertise (he paints hot rods professionally).

I was about 7 1/2 months pregnant during this cabinet recreation, so I wore a mask when sanding and painting. It was a good project to help with the pregnancy waiting game!

A Hoosier cabinet (also known as a "Hoosier") is a type of cupboard popular in the first decades of the 20th century. Named after the Hoosier Manufacturing Co. of New Castle, Indiana, they were also made by several other companies, most also located in Indiana.

Houses of the period were frequently not equipped with built-in
cabinetry, and the lack of storage space in the kitchen became acute.
Hoosier adapted an existing furniture piece, the baker's cabinet, which
had a similar structure of a table top with some cabinets above it (and
frequently flour bins beneath). By rearranging the parts and taking
advantage of (then) modern metal working, they were able to produce a
well-organized, compact cabinet which answered the home cook's needs for
storage and working space. Hoosier cabinets remained popular into the 1920s, but by that time
houses began to be built with more modern kitchens with built-in
cabinets and other fixtures. Thus supplanted, the Hoosier largely
disappeared. They remain common on the antique market, however, and are
still used as supplemental cabinets.(wikipedia)

Finished product in my kitchen. It is a little more piled up with stuff now, but I admire it everyday! I imagine a mother in 1910 preparing a meal for her family around this cabinet, with a kiddo on her hip and bread in the oven. Love the fact that this piece of furniture has a history to it. Wish I could see where it has been.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

I've been majorly neglecting this blog for way too long. Got my laptop
fired up for some late night blogging. Much has changed in our household
since my last post 2 Februarys ago. We had a new little bumble-bee join
our hive in March of his year. Baby Lenora Rose made our family
complete. I've got lots of projects to post, but just have to find the
time to get them all written up! It had been about 8 years since my
last pregnancy, so I learned a lot this time around. I wanted to attempt
a natural childbirth, labor & delivery. I dove headfirst into
all things NATURAL childbirth...books, movies, websites, groups, etc.
Childbirth and motherhood is completely inspiring and I had a ton of
support from my husband, my family and all the wonderful women in my
life. Hoping to share all the good (and bad) info I have learned on the
subject as well as fun baby experiences, ideas, projects, and info. I
also have some great nursery project ideas, crochet projects, and other
crafting ideas I am hoping to share. Now if I can just get the little
one to let me set her down for a few minutes I can get to typing. (: